Mom's Visit & the Best YoungLife's Yet!

We'll start with a quick March Madness sports update that can be summarized with how terrible my bracket was/is this year. I guess I'll leave Bracketology to Joe Lunardi. Alabama sure didn't help me by losing in the first round...c'mon ya'll.

 

BUT, in the midst of my ESPN Tournament Challenge rankings plummeting, my mom came to visit me in Costa Rica! And let me tell ya'll- we had an absolute blast! I got to play tour guide/translator for 6 days as we traveled (via public transporation) around the country. Her first night here was a YoungLife night, and mom was able to attend her first YL club since she was in high school. The next morning we caught the 6 am bus to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast where we roasted in the sun for 3 days. We also did a rainforest canopy tour with 10 ziplines. We decided that was more like an overly priced Disney World ride because, as cool as the trees and rainforest were, we saw way more animals exploring on our own. However, we can check ziplining in Costa Rica off the bucket list! After the beach, we returned to San Jose and lived city life for 2 more days. I'm now a professional at economically & efficiently traveling in Costa Rica, not to mention translating, sooooo- Bring on more visitors!

 

This was the view from our hotel balcony-Manuel Antonio beach

The sloth that was in a nearby tree at breakfast each morning

First day on the beach!

Getting in some exercise/exploring the beach

The "white-faced" monkeys we encountered on the beach

This iguana wanted a good view & a sun tan

One incredible sunset...

Zipline tour of the rainforest canopy

Go, Momma!

 

It's always difficult to adjust back to the normal routine after a great vacation, but having YoungLife clubs to prepare for makes it much easier. Speaking of YoungLife clubs, in my opinion, we've had some of our best YL clubs yet recently. We had a YL Fast Food Progressive Dinner, YL Donut Olympics, and then YL Senior Citizen Club- all phenomenal ideas for you other YL leaders out there looking for themes/club ideas. Pictures will speak louder than words in this case, so here are some of the "best of" photos from each club.

Fast Food Progressive dinner

1st stop: Taco Bell for a taco eating relay

Next stop: McDonald for a french fry toss (my personal favorite)

3rd stop: KFC for some popcorn chicken (instagramed)

Then we finished up with some ice cream at POPS while we listened to Nicki's talk

 

Donut Olympics
The classic toothpick pass

Stuffing your face is always attractive...

Getting creative: The girls constructed a nice donut tower

...& the guys came up with a donut boxing match (typical)

Demonstrating the ol' donut swing & bite

 

Senior Citizen Club

Your elderly hosts & Green Acres Retirement Home residents: Oscar & Opal

Ready for our close-up...I hope I turn out nothing like this at 75!

Powdered white hair & wheelchair races make everyone 65+

 

As if we needed something else to celebrate this March month, my sweet friend Miguel (Mexico born, Houston raised, and now Costa Rican med school student) was baptized last Saturday!

 

Things you can be thinking about/praying for before you hear from me again:

• YL Costa Rica is taking 12 people to El Salvador for a Habitat for Humanity service project March 31st-April 7th! Speaker, Will Hawkins from Mesa, Arizona, will be flying in to join us.   
• A potential full-time YoungLife ministry opportunity for me is brewing stateside. I'll keep you updated, but I would love prayers through the process!